Conventional car wash systems include a drying station near the exit of the car wash line for drying rinse water from the surface of vehicles. The sides of each vehicle are dried by stationary blower units located on the sides of the car wash line which include one or more vertical nozzles. The top surface of the vehicle is dried by one or more overhead blower ducts. The overhead blower ducts are hinged at one end to permit vertical movement, and normally include a roller-type follower at its free end for following the longitudinal contour of the vehicle.
A specific fluid stripping apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,801 issued Jul. 24, 1979 in the name of Day et al, and owned by the assignee of the subject invention. The patent discloses the use of flexible, inflatable bags of generally rectangular transverse cross-section having an inlet for introducing air under pressure into the bag and an elongated opening at the bag end defining a nozzle to admit the stream of air to a vehicle for drying purposes. The nozzle end of the bag lies in the path of motion of the object to cause physical engagement between the nozzle end of the bag and the object to bring the stream of air emitted from the nozzle opening into close space relationship with the surface of the object.
Another type of blower apparatus is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,272 issued Nov. 13, 1990 in the name of Schleeter et al which discloses circular sleeves or cloth ducts acting as blowers which include tapered ends. The duct end portions are flattened to better shape the stream of air exiting the duct end portion. The flattening of the discharge opening adjacent the end edge is attained by cloth fabric strips or tabs with their ends fastened by stitching to the opening.
Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,714 issued Nov. 18, 1986 in the name of Tomasello which discloses tapered air blowers which have a generally circular cross-section. Such blowers and nozzles are typically made of fiberglass or any other low friction material.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,440,157, issued to Rousseau discloses a drier for vehicles having tapered ducts.
In general, the prior art fails to disclose a simple blower apparatus having the effectiveness of U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,801, along with minimized depth dimension to fit inside any car wash system with lower cost.